Pick n Pay is embarking on an aggressive rollout of its clothing stores, with 73 more coming

73 new Pick n Pay Clothing stores are planned.

• Pick n
  Pay has bold plans to grow its clothing business, with 73 new standalone stores
  planned.
• That is
  three times more stores than it opened during its previous financial year.
• The
  clothing division grew sales by 17.1% for the 18 weeks to 3 July 2022.
• Boxer is
  also getting 61 stores as Pick n Pay works at positioning itself as the “African
  discount champion”.
• For more
  stories go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.

Grocery
retailer Pick n Pay is embarking on an aggressive store rollout of its standalone
clothing stores after the division posted strong sales growth.

The retailer
plans to open 73 more Pick n Pay Clothing stores during its 2023 financial
year, it said in a trading update for the 18 weeks to 3 July 2022.

“The
acceleration of our… clothing store opening plans is proceeding well. Pick n
Pay Clothing has 73 new
store openings confirmed for FY23,” it said on Tuesday.

Its store
expansion plans come as the clothing division reports stellar sales growth of
17.1% year on year.

The
retailer added 27 new clothing stores during the previous financial year, three
times less than what it plans for its 2023 financial year. The new store additions
will help grow the retailer’s clothing store base to about 350 stores.

In
its 2022 annual report, Pick n Pay said it invested R1.7bn to grow clothing
by expanding it, opening new stores, delivering customer value propositions,
and enabling ‘Project Future’ initiatives.

Pick n Pay,
which sells its clothing merchandise out of more than 460 sites, sees its
clothing division as a strategic growth engine. It sells its apparel mainly in
dedicated standalone stores, its supermarkets, and hypermarkets. The standalone stores  typically
carry a broader range than in the supermarket format.

Pick n Pay Clothing
has been enjoying steady growth and has managed to grab market share across several
women’s, men’s, and children’s wear categories. Its clothing sales saw two years of
compounded annual growth of 11.7%. It said online clothing sales more than doubled
over a year, also boosted by its online retail platform Zando.

Over the years, Pick n Pay has been growing its list of local
suppliers for its clothing business. As a result, local sourcing now represents
40% of Pick n Pay Clothing’s sales.

This has enabled the retailer to collaborate with local
designers and entrepreneurs and reduced its lead times while ensuring high
levels of product availability, Pick n Pay said.

Pick n Pay’s
Boxer stores are also one of the retailer’s key engines of growth, and the retailer
plans to add 61 new stores from more than 365 stores.

“Boxer is
on track for 61 FY23 new store openings (vs. 36 in FY22). Boxer continues to
grow ahead of the market and is progressing well on its plan to double sales by
the end of FY26,” the retailer said in its trading update.

The
retailer aims to position Boxer as Africa’s “discount champion”.

Overall group
sales increased 10.7%, while the domestic operations grew sales by 10.5%, the
retailer said.

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